The Tao of Tea

Why does it taste like wood? Oh wait… I really tried to like this one, but I guess it’s not for my palate.

An honest Oolong that lasts for many steepings. Clean and earthy, but not peaty – makes you really want to pay attention to it. Easy to brew, and delicious at any time of day.

A solid full-bodied earthy tea. I liked the first tin a good bit more than the second. Not sure what that’s all about…

This one surprised me. First time I brewed it, I didn’t like it at all – way too flowery – reminiscent of rose hips. Maybe a month later, I tried it again, and was very pleased. This is by far the most floral Oolong I’ve tried. You should really drink this one very hot, since the aroma and floral bouquet decay into a mundane, but never bitter cup of tea. Probably best Gongfu style.

White Peony has a much darker, greener flavor than other whites I’ve tried. I usually steep it 4-5 times, which is great mileage compared to Silver Needle or similar. Great evening tea, very forgiving, and works well in a pot, or Chinese style.

I got a small tin of this delectable tea as part of a box of three sampler tins (also including a tin of Ben Shan Oolong and one of Tie Guan Yin) at the Tower of Cosmic Reflections Teahouse at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. Sadly, the purchase of the sampler box has given me a lot more joy than my visit to the Chinese Garden did, as I was accompanied by my parents who spent their entire visit complaining about the family we were staying with while in Portland. I love my parents, but it wasn’t easy to enjoy Portland with them. Anyway, I digress…

This is (as the other commenter noted) classic oolong tea. Though I thought the package’s recommended brewing time of 4 min. was a bit much, I gave it nearly that, in a mesh strainer in a stoneware thermos-like mug from Teavana. It smelled like generic oolong in the tin, but the brewing/brewed leaves have a rounder scent than some oolongs, with lots going on: the normal vegetal smells, but also an almost meaty, savory smell. The liquor is a medium greenish-gold. A sip reveals that the smells were not misleading: yes on the vegetal, yes on the flowery (though not much for an oolong), but also a sort of soupy savoriness. I feel like I could add vegetables and some salt and have a light dinner going! This element makes this a very satisfying tea with high drinkability, enhanced by the complete lack of bitterness.

As far as I can recall, I’ve never had this particular kind of oolong before. No idea whether this cup’s savoriness is normal for a Tung Ting. If so, I could see keeping a good example of a Tung Ting around regularly. We’ll see if/how this one insinuates itself into my current tea rotation!

I treated myself to black tea today! I saw there was enough of this tea left and then it was all done! This doesnt smell like lychee. Perhaps there is a subtle nuance of it. The brew was a nice golden brown and had a slightly nutty scent to it. It tasted great! It didnt need any additives. It was naturally sweet and the fruitiness was extremely subtle. Good tea overall! I cant say I will be purchasing this in the future. I love lychee and wished it had more of a presence in this tea.

Love this tea! I have been drinking the pure tulsi and also the tulsi with ginger. Love them both! Tulsi is also referred to as “holy basil”, and is revered for its calming properties. After three cups of this, I was super relaxed, almost to the point of being under the influence. Anyway, I really enjoy the taste of the tulsi ginger; a very mild ginger taste to compliment the more savory taste of the tulsi. So glad I picked this box up on a whim!

I’ve been drinking this tea on and off since college (30+years) and it is always a favorite.

Special thanks to Liberteas for this one!
It’s smells pretty! The Marigold/Lemon/Tulsi Combo offers a pretty aroma.

I’m drinking this one luke-warm. It’s nice. It’s pleasant. The lemon flavor is soothing and juicy – not tart or puckery. The tulsi is perfectly done. The marigold flavors are a nice addition. Not bitter or overly floral. Just straight-up…NICE!

Finishing my sample of this with an added sugar and splash of milk but I’m still finding it quite sour. The sugar has turned the rose into a somewhat artificial affair and it’s much to sweet for me now. :( Still at least that is another sample finished. YAY.

More Keemun :D This time with rose petals. The loose tea smells sweet but not particularly of roses, I can however see the occasional bright pink and yellow petal amongst the leaves.

Whilst brewed this forms an earthy brown colour that smells earthy yet sweetly floral.

The rose shines through in the first few sips and it’s rather strong and the Keemun is in the background. The rose petals are sweet and rosey, almost like Turkish Delight but a little more sour. The whole blend is floral and sweetness of the rose mixed with earthy and robust Keemun which creates a dark rose medley. It’s sweet and sour which I don’t find that often in blends.

Overall it’s nice but not something I could drink a lot of, much too sweet and earthily sour for me but it does make a nice change. If you love rose petals then you might love this tea.

I first tasted this tea on a trip to Portland, Or at the Lan Su Chinese Garden. While the tour of the garden was a bit of a bore, I can highly recommend the garden’s tea house. It’s an oasis for tea lovers! In said tea house, they offer up the best from The Tao of Tea. One of the tea’s I tried on that given day was Tippy South Cloud. I liked it then, and I still like it now.

Right of the bat, I can state this organic black yunnan is of very good quality. The dry leaf emits a dusty sweet potato-like scent, while the wet leaf exudes a very friendly earthiness. The liquor has a warmer sweetness to it’s smell as compared to the typical yunnan. Tasting this tea, it’s not overly strong, but is mildly dense. There is a pleasant sweetness throughout the sip. I can best describe the sweetness as caramel-like. It has absolutely none of the bitterness that can sometimes translate from a lesser quality yunnan. The relatively mild strength combined with the caramel-like sweetness balances out to a very satisfying overall sip.

While The Tao of Tea recommends on it’s tin to brew this at 185, I personally liked the results better brewing it at 200. It’s slightly stronger with the higher temperature, but it’s all a matter of taste.

If you happen to visit Portland, skip the line at Voodoo Doughnut, and instead go for a tea tasting at the Lan Su Chinese Garden. If you can’t make the trip, do the next best thing and order some of this tea.

My breakfast tea. My go to tea. My every day tea…that is until they ran out! waiting for this to come back in stock, lalala

I really wanted to like this tea. It was the first white tea I ever tried. I’m not sure I like white tea at all. And I don’t think the blend of white tea and bergamot really works. It’s kind of bitter on bitter. The smell of the tea was good, but it didn’t smell like something edible, more like a quality perfume. It’s all natural, so that’s not the issue. Overall, a very perfumy, overly feminine flavor.

And the clue that maybe white tea isn’t for me is that I kept over-steeping it to try to get some flavor out, which only makes it bitter. If you love white tea you may love this, I don’t know.

This is a really nice fruity herbal tea without the harsh and overly strong flavors you get with herbals like Celestial Seasonings. It has a wonderful deep red color to it and smells wonderful. I’ll be trying it over ice soon.

Aged. Yunnan. Gold.

If there were three more rapturous words in the English dictionary…I can’t think of them right now. It’s no secret that Yunnan Golds are probably my favorite types of black teas. What I hadn’t had, though, was an aged version. When I ordered this last week at a Chinese Garden tearoom, I was expecting a pu-erh version, but – nay – the host informed me that it was a normal hong cha, simply aged.

And it was everything it was supposed to be – honey, peppery, slightly malty, sweet, and – most importantly – winy. Dare I say, I was even tea-drunk after scores of steeps of the stuff.

The full story can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/09/28/tea-flutes-and-yellow-hatted-hoffmans/

Just absolutely incredible. So so good. It has all the rich chocolatey flavors of a new jin cha, but all these flavors are much deeper and smoother with age. The taste just lingers and lingers in your mouth. This is hands down my favorite black tea. Every time I drink it I can’t help but shout “YUM” repeatedly.

I usually brew this gongfu style in a gaiwan as it’s delicious for at least 4 infusions.

Thanks to Batrachoid for this sample

This tea is really light in jasmine. So this would be good for people who would like a lighter jasmine taste. For me, I thought it was pretty good, but I usually like stronger jasmine. It wasn’t quite as sweet as lots of other jamsine teas I have tried.

It was good for a relaxing Sunday afternoon!

Ommitted the lead up paragraph so on to the tea, if not abruptly.

The dry leaf has a smokey earthy smell with a malty overtone. Wet the leaves gain a sweetness to accompany the malt notes. The drink is not as dark or malty as I expected. There’s a slight compexity. There’s a touch of smoke that is very well proportioned to the vanilla sweetness I detect. A creamy mouthfeel is starting to reveal itself, though not too strong as of yet. There even seems to be a nuttiness offsetting the tinge of sour bitterness laced through the drink. That bitterness leans toward a chocolate-coffee at the back of the sip. Aftertaste is pleasant leaving my mouth with a clean sweetness, as well as some lingering malty notes.

I tried a second steep against the recommendations of AmazonV’s post (I was sure this came from you but address doesn’t match up-unless you really MOVED) and I should have listened. Though this tea is misnamed (strong black) I still found it very enjoyable and I thank whoever sent it to me.

tunes-the Avett Brothers= Pretend Love/Colorshow/The Ballad Of Love And Hate/Sanguine/SSS/Complainte D’vn Matelot Mourant/Signs

Special Thanks to Liberteas for this one!
I had to take a break in the action of my Bagged Bonanza! I will probably do more this afternoon but had to get some other teas in there, too!

As soon as the water hit the leaves this screamed Anise! Even tho the product description said that I wasn’t thinking it was going to be that intense, I guess.

The taste is a combo of vanilla and anise flavors – but naturally speaking. It’s sweet and creamy on the tongue. I don’t know if I would have picked this one out of all the great offerings this company has upfront but I’m sure glad that Liberteas sent me some because it is very tasty. I do like it…much more than I anticipated.

I picked up a tin of this tea at a relatively new tea store on Lexington Ave in Manhattan and was thinking DARK and FULL BODIED, perhaps a great winter tea, or fatigue fighter. That is not what brewed. Instead the brew is actually rather light and not as intense as the label suggests. The taste is more delicate than brute, and in fact is quite pleasant and neatly fragrant. I’ve been using lately as an iced tea and rather enjoy it this way.